A Yearly Controversy

Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme (2025). Credit: A24

We have had a few awards ceremonies already and the controversy has begun anew. The controversy is "movies with predominantly Black casts and/or with Black directors don't get any respect at awards ceremonies."

It is said that "Black movies" don't get asses in the seats. That turned out to be untrue, considering Sinners' $368.3 million box office (the movie cost about $90-100 million). Then the question became "do box office totals really matter?" The answer is YES, according to your own industry! It's all ya'll ever talk about!!

I am a fan of Timothée Chalamet. I first became aware of his talent in Call Me By Your Name, which is a favorite of mine from 2017. It was a gorgeous movie with very elegant performances by Timothée and the rest of the cast, especially Michael Stulbarg - a very consistent and interesting actor who turns up in everything.

I have not seen Marty Supreme yet, which is a movie (interestingly produced by Timothée) about table tennis player and hustler Marty Reisman, so I don't have an opinion about how good it is. I never heard of Marty Reisman, and only became aware of the movie days before December 31st.

Here's where it gets tricky.

As we all know, movies up for awards have to be out the year before the award year. It felt to me like this movie got slipped in before the end of the year deliberately. Not necessarily maliciously - just deliberately. I didn't see it coming, had never heard anything about it until it was suddenly out, and I was shocked to see that it was already on the nominations lists.

I had already decided that Sinners and Frankenstein were going to command the nominations, and so far that has been mostly true. However, One Battle After Another suddenly started gaining momentum somehow.

I had seen OBAA and had already planned on seeing Hamnet, which seems like Oscar bait just from the ads. But then suddenly Amy Madigan got nominated for her Aunt Gladys role in Weapons - which I am definitely not mad about. Another horror movie on the award lists?? Excellent.

Now the field is wide open, which has made things more interesting, yet frustrating. After Timothée won the Critic's Choice Best Actor award this past weekend, talk started up about how a movie with a predominately Black cast was going to start getting shut out of categories (historically) AGAIN.

Best actor nominee Michael B. Jordan was said to have played two roles in Sinners - twin brothers with two distinct personalities, and some even say he played third role: one of the twins ends up a vampire. And yet, the Critics' Choice award for Best Actor went to late entry Timothée.

There have been arguments on all sides and platforms about who actually deserved the award. Again, I haven't seen Marty Supreme, so I don't have an opinion yet. I did see One Battle After Another, and was surprised that it turned up on the awards lists. I thought it was a pretty good movie that I had some problems with (more on that another time), but not so good that it should get Best Picture. I don't care that Oscar winners Leonardo di Caprio and Sean Penn are in it. It just wasn't an Oscar picture to me.

What might be happening is that horror is just getting shut out again - having now three movies on awards lists.

I am disappointed that Michael B. didn't win, but I'm not willing to throw in the towel just yet. We have many more award ceremonies to get through. What do you think?

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My Oscar List

The movies I've seen so far are: Sinners, Frankenstein, and One Battle After Another, so my picks so far are:

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Madigan or Wunmi Mosaku

Best Actor: Michael B. Jordan

Best Supporting Actor: Jacob Elordi (who did win last weekend)

Best Score: Sinners (which did win last weekend)

Best Costumes: Frankenstein

Best Song: Sinners' "I Lied to You", although I really wanted "Last Time I Seen the Sun" - which makes me farklempt every time I hear it

Best Director: Ryan Coogler 1st, Gulliermo del Toro 2nd

Best Original Screenplay: Sinners

Best Adapted Screenplay: Frankenstein

Best Cinematography: Sinners

If I didn't mention a category, then that means I have no opinion yet. I'm sure some things will change as I see more movies on the list. As a horror fan, I am a little biased, but as I've mentioned time and time again, horror is getting more "legitimate". The movies are better. The scripts are amazing. The horror is just incidental. Don't count out horror movies!!

Also, after Amy Madigan's win, I think of Toni Collette who has been robbed SEVERAL times because she gave excellent performances in shunned horror movies.

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Q: When am I getting back on the mic?

A: Good question. The best answer I can give you is: soon. And hopefully that means March. Stay tuned!